Carrot Top

Have you ever noticed that people with "to die for kitchens" rarely ever cook? At least the people I know don't. I have this next door neighbor, Phil, who has the AWESOMEST kitchen....including a commercial gas cooktop/oven. But he doesn't even KNOW HOW TO COOK. He comes to my deli for takeout......all the time....... ← Yeah. It's a "style thing". I have known people like this who use the excuse that putting together a kitchen of this sort "improves the real estate value". Okay. Who needs real estate value when you can have a good home cooked dinner is my feeling, but. . after years of things like this bothering me, at some point I just gave up. Really, I am getting spooked though on eG today. Just after reading this thread, I went on to the "supermarket duh's thread" and the world is beginning to take on Twilight Zone dimensions. I had intended to go grocery shopping then cook, but now I think I'll take a nap and hide in the house instead. AND avoid on-line shopping!

This is obviously what a person needs to buy to hang on their front door if there is a Sub-Zero refrigerator in the kitchen. Just to set the right mood, you know. A little touch of autumn leaves twisted alongside, some pine tree bits, maybe a touch of heather or gorse or fraise de bois in the summertime et voila! One knows Ones Place in Life.

Yes. I would make a meal of eggplant caviar if it were here in front of me. Oh yes.

I am curious, raxelita. Was there a stable team at Per Se with the servers according to the people you know who quit? And also curious to know where they are going to next. . .?

*If* (and to my mind that is a big "if" in the likes of a place like Per Se) there were servers who were performing at a much higher or at a much lower level than their peers, then that would have been not only inappropriate for this level of dining but also would reflect very poor management. My feeling is that indeed, there may have been a "team" of sorts existing there in the first place. A team of professional service people that are dedicated to this field. (It does happen, though it requires a consistent effort made by management through training and support in daily team-building, too.) The formalization of the service charge will guarantee a steady and reliable income to all members of this team as long as they hit the levels of performance they are supposed to, which is "high". Beyond that, it seems it might ensure them some benefits such as health insurance also. What could be wrong with that?

Try here. I've ordered several briskets from these folks and they have been outstanding. The taste and tenderness is incomparable. Once you try one you won't settle for anything less. And, at $2.95 a pound, they're a real bargain. There is a shipping and container charge however. ← That is a very nice link, dls, and I for one will definitely try ordering from them, as the area I live in has little to offer in this way. I wonder if the Kobe beef that they are producing would have any discernible difference in flavor or texture than the Japanese Kobe beef, as the "extras" like massaging the cow are not done here. Interesting. . .

I am sorry if I sounded brusque or dismissive last night. This morning, let me put my thoughts in better order: The person who wrote that real-life little vignette in "Seasoning of a Chef" has probably been asked a thousand times by people "not in the business" for stories of "what it is like in the business". People are hungry for these little stories. Personally I do not think that means that they have crossed the line to insipid over-sentimentality and dreadful heavy romanticism of the life of a chef, the life of One Who Cooks. It just means they are hungry for stories. Stories serve a need in the human mind and heart just as science serves a need in human existence. Indeed, I am sure that stories serve the greatest need, in this thing that we call the human heart or "soul" or spirit or whatever other words one wants to apply to it. Not everything in life is a symphony, either. Most of it, is not. It is silly little tunes, some of which make no great sense and that are of no great importance. That's okay by me. I would not demand a symphony of life daily for then it might demand a symphony from me right back. project, you sound like a very well-educated person and one who cares deeply about learning the ways of cookery. If I were someone wanting to learn to cook, personally I would start by reading an older version of Larousse Gastronomique from cover to cover without missing an entry. The next book I would head to would be one of the older Julia Child ones wherein she gives step-by-step instructions. This worked for me. Of course, there are many more books and ways (this would likely be a good thread for eGullet. . .the best books to learn to cook from! everyone has their favorites) but of course the thing is a process. It doesn't get learned with one book, one semester, one course. But if you do it each day, not thinking about it too much but just letting your hands do most of the work, it will happen. And again, I am sorry if I was rude. Karen

Sigh. Please go have a nice glass of wine, project. ( back to you.)

project. . .to my mind, it was a story. A simple story, which I have the right to enjoy just as a story, without the angry intellectual hyperbole that might be wished upon it. I also have the right to not enjoy it, as you obviously did not. But it might be a bit unfair to take a piece of work that someone created for another persons pleasure, as well as possibly for a paycheck, and trash it because it does not do for you whatever it is that you seek from it. . .which is apparently teach you how to cook. Perhaps you should have tried the route I did. Drop out of school in the beginning of the ninth grade, somehow find the right books to read to self-educate, do so, and end up as an Executive Chef who not only figured out how to cook but also how not to be angry at the world. Best of luck. There are lots of libraries, lots of bookstores. Perhaps it would be a better use of your time to go find a book you might like than to trash those that don't appeal to your intellectual vigor.

All's well that ends well and here's to new beginnings, Carolyn. Cheers and bon chance!

Alleuluia, Mayhaw Man. You can't argue with New Orleans any more than you can argue with mathematics. It just Is.

I've heard good things about those guys too. But when I first read your post, I thought you were talking about bonefish the fish itself (which is a semi-game fish you catch with a spinning reel in coral reef shallows in the Florida Keys). Wonder how and why they chose that name. Marketing studies or something? Why "bonefish"? At first you would think it would turn off the average customer. "Bony" and "fish", the ideas, together. Never mind. . .I'm just ranting on about words as usual. Carry on.

There you go. Deconstructed figgy pudding. Place pile of raisins on plate. Place pile of almonds next to them. Whip some butter with confectioners sugar, pipe out into pretty rosette. Pour fig essence over. Carry to table, pour brandy over and light. Enjoy! (Sorry, it must be the effect of the song which is STILL running through my head. )

I hope you will have a soccer ball or two just casually laying around the yard for them to play with the kids as they just happen to see it by chance. . .

Kulebiac or coulibiac is so darn traditional that it leaps immediately to mind. Not a bad thing, either. Served with a clear borscht and some good vodka, I'd be happy.

I have been reading but not commenting because every time you mention six meals a day and show such lovely food, I have to go search the refrigerator. Good stuff, Mooshmouse!

Now why did you have to go and do that? I do believe that this is the way that the British Empire was managed for so many years. Go around singing inane nursery rhymes with lilting little rhythms that will not leave anyone's mind that hears them for days, days, weeks, months, till the entire countryside submits just to get some peace and quiet and escape from the figgy pudding music torture. Aaaaargh.

Okay, okay. Here's a couple of ideas that ran through my head while driving to pick up the kids at school: Beef Braised in Barolo with Fig Essence Grilled Lamb Chops with Frizzled Ginger and Scallions with Creamed Spinach and Pignoli Roasted Quail in a Pomegranate-Fig Essence Marinade with Batter Fried Plantains and Byzantine Rice Pilaf Cherry Blintzes with Fig Essence Vanilla Cheesecake in Hazelnut Crust with Hot Chocolate-Coffee-Fig Essence Sauce Sigh. Yeah. I'm off now to dole out the Gatorade and the Rainbow Goldfish Crackers to my attentive and always hungry little ones.

Aren't figs supposed to be good for the skin, Melissa?

Wow! What wonderful replies! I am left to wonder, though, why only one man (if I am correct about guessing everyone's sex) has responded. Is he the only man worth eating out there? Or could it be that Real Men Don't Eat Quiche and that they also are not quiche either. As for myself, I found it difficult to come up with an answer. Each thought kept turning into extensive menus which were probably more wishful than real. As I walked through my kitchen with my mind in its generally muddled shape, though, something popped into it. So it must be. I am a Texas Red Grapefruit. Shiny with an attempted elegance and gloss on the outside. The color of bright spirit. A hybrid, genetically, with the urge to succeed that goes along with this. Sweet and juicy on the inside (mmm hmm ) but with lines of structure and pith that disallow too much softness. Sometimes subject to suddenly and surprisingly spitting out acid juice in the face of those who would hold a fork to me. Full of vitamins, though. Now the next question must be. . . If you are a food that would or could be cooked, how would you like to be cooked?

Chili. Both red with beef and white with chicken. These are new-age guys, ya know. Both can be made ahead and set out in big crockpots. Cornbread on the side, natch. Lots of it. Grated cheddar, chopped scallions (that's "spring onion" to y' all, but you know that) and and a big bowl of sour cream to top. Another pot of nice steamy white rice. Yum. .............................................................. And cookies by the massive handful.

If you were a food, what would you be? Why would you be this food? (If you are too complex to be one single food item, then please feel free to expand yourself to a meal. . . )

Actually, Varmint ← And that's as it should be.

I really like the idea of bringing a personal rabbi to a Pig-Pickin'. I really like it. And it also has great possibilities as the basis of a good children's book, too! So. . .what did he eat, Melissa? Or was his feast just of the beauty and the cameraderie of it all?

I've never tried that, Abra. . .but have a feeling that freezing might change the texture. But then again, it depends on what sort of presentation you want, finally. Whole fish. . .or in a blended texture at service time? Of course the other ways of preserving fish would be salting and/or smoking. The salting would not work in your recipe, but I am wondering if smoking the tuna before making the confit would assist in possibly making it hold longer. It would likely be delicious, too. . .(though perhaps not what you had in mind. . .)